Before I get into the nuts and bolts of racing for beginners or before I start giving you my experiences and accolades, I spent quite a bit of time putting together a list of content for this blogging site. This first post has to have an impact and set the stage for all the posts that I’m going to do here-after. After looking over everything, there was one thing that I’ve always believed in and something that I’ve always passed along to my sons. This rule is so important that it has become the “number one rule” and supersedes all other rules and it is, “to have fun.”
I started racing later in life than most people. I was in my early thirties when I took an interest in motorsports. I’ve “raced” since I was a young kid and ran competitively in running and duathlons (run-bike-run style events). I won’t go into too much detail today but skipping to just a couple years ago, I introduced my son, Senna (yes, that’s his real name) to kart racing. Prior to him taking the steering wheel and pedals for himself, we would take a two-seater go-kart out and I would essentially show him the race-line, braking points, snap-in points and track-out points (all which will be covered in later posts) without actually telling him about them. Before each trip to the track though, we always had one important rule and it was the highest priority of a rule that we kept to the highest of standards. This one rule, made the rest of the focus points easy and kept us humble amongst the other racers.
What am I defining as “fun”? You can still have fun and not win. You can still have fun and have a slower time. There are so many outside factors that make up a lap time where, your pace is dictated by factors that are going on around you, than just your driving. “Fun” is a feeling that you will discover when adrenaline and focus start to burn inside your heart. You will know soon enough if you have that burn. You don’t have to go as fast as others, smooth as others or have better race-craft than others to have this feeling. You know you’ve had fun when you step out of that kart and as tired as you are, you want to go again and again. That is what you’re looking for. The “competition”, “speed”, “race-craft” will all come later, no doubt about it.
Senna has become quite the racer now and has put in a lot of time and effort to become the 2019 Junior Indoor Champion at SyKart in Tigard, Oregon. However, we never went to the track without making the effort to remember this number one rule. If we were not in the mood or if things got too involved and no longer fun, we knew that the day was not for us and just packed it up and appreciated the days when we knew we were going to have fun.
When you start learning the sport of racing and going out for the first time, you will not be fast on the first, second, tenth or even the hundredth time out there. Some people will learn to be fast right away and others will require more time. With enough practice, you will become fast, however; if you’re not having fun, then none of it will mean a thing and it won’t be worth doing. A majority of your “fun” should be in the learning process of driving in itself. As you read more into these posts, we’ll help guide you on what you should be focusing on. When you get these skills down early, the speed will naturally come. So don’t stress about your times.
From here on out, including reading all of my posts, remember to have fun. Make your driving experiences fun and share that fun with other drivers and non-drivers. Fun is contagious and it should be, even when you’re not on the track.